Establishment Licensing & Regulations

NEW ESTABLISHMENT LICENSE APPLICATIONS

The TFSC licenses Funeral Establishments, Commercial Embalming Facilities, Crematory Establishments and certain Cemeteries. As part of the application process, and prior to licensure, the TFSC inspects all establishments.

All establishments must meet the building, fire safety and health standards of both the state and in the locality in which it is located. A crematory also must have a current Air Quality Control Permit issued by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

A licensed establishment is required to submit a new application if the establishment is changing its name, its physical location or its owner.

CHANGE OF OWNERSHIP

Under Texas Administrative Code Rule 203.9(c), a funeral establishment or commercial embalming facility may effect a change of ownership by either submitting a new license application or by notifying the Commission, on a form prescribed by the Commission, of the ownership change within 30 days.

An amendment for ownership change can be used for the following situations:

Sale of business

Death of owner

Designation change

By amending the original application, the new owner must agree to the following terms:

Retain existing license number

Retain all past complaint history associated with establishment license number

Responsible for ALL past and current complaint penalties due to Commission regardless of ownership

Responsible for maintenance of funeral records as required by law

DESIGNATING A FDIC OR EIC

At all times a licensed funeral establishment must have a designated funeral director in charge (FDIC). The FDIC is ultimately responsible for compliance with all mortuary, health and vital statistics laws in the funeral establishment. Commercial Embalming Establishments must have at all times have a designated embalmer in charge (EIC). Funeral establishments that perform embalming services should only designate a FDIC, not both. Any time a FDIC/EIC changes the establishment must notify the TFSC by submitting the following forms within 15 days.

Tex. Occ. Code Section 651.351(d) requires a funeral establishment to include a preparation room containing the facilities, equipment, supplies required by Commission rule to ensure the provision of adequate embalming services. The Commission can exempt a funeral establishment from this requirement if the establishment is located within 50 miles of a second establishment where embalming will take place and both establishments have common ownership.

By TFSC rule, if embalming is performed, the following "Authorization to Embalm Form" must be used. The form may not be altered and must be signed by a family member, preferably the person authorized to make funeral arrangements when written authorization is secured.

By TFSC rule, all embalming case reports must contain, at a minimum, all the information on the following case-report form. Funeral establishments may use other forms, so long as the forms contain all the information on the published form.

Texas Occupations Code 651.658 requires all crematories to report to the TFSC the number of cremations performed within a one year period. Texas Administrative Code 205.9 clarifies the time period being the calendar year between January 1 and December 31. The report must be received by the TFSC by January 30th of the following year. Failure to report by January 30th will result in a penalty of $100 per day until the report is received at the TFSC's Austin office. The report can be in any form but must include the Crematory's name and license number and the total amount of cremations performed during the calendar year.